Supreme Court seeks clarification from Central Government on supply of 100% ethanol fuel

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Central Government on how the supply of 100% ethanol fuel will be provided. The court raised this question during the hearing of petitions related to the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26. A bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Prasanna B Varale raised this question citing recent media reports.

The bench stated, 'We have read in some newspapers that vehicles running on 100% ethanol have been approved.' The court further expressed its desire to know in principle, if vehicles with 100% ethanol have been permitted, then how will it be supplied? In response to this question, Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court that major changes would have to be made in the production system for this.

The court has scheduled the hearing for this matter for the next month. During the hearing, the bench emphasized the need to empower the country's farmers. The court said that this issue should also be considered from the perspective of larger public interest and the environment. The court further added that a large population of the country is most important from the farmers' perspective and we have to find a way to empower the farmers, because no one is highlighting this aspect. The court also said that we have to empower that common man who still lives in the villages.

In this case, a lawyer stated that promoting ethanol would help farmers in some way. Another lawyer said that some of these issues have been included in the Central Government's policy and the aspect of farmers' interest is also included in the Central Government's policy.

Recently on 26 October, the Ministry of Road Transport issued a notification for amendment in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989. This amendment has approved flex-fuel vehicles running on E100, i.e., almost pure ethanol. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had previously stated that these changes would update the provisions of emission certification, in which E100 along with E85 has been explicitly included.

However, regarding petrol, on 27 October, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri stated that the Centre has no immediate plan to increase ethanol in petrol beyond 20%. Flex-fuel vehicles are designed to run on fuels with higher ethanol blends like E85 and E100. E85 contains 85% ethanol and 15% petrol, while E100 contains almost 100% ethanol. In contrast, normal petrol vehicles are currently approved for lower ethanol blends.

The use of 100% ethanol-blended fuel has been approved by the Central Government, which is expected to reduce crude oil imports and pollution. These vehicles will run without petrol, diesel, CNG or battery, but they can only be used in vehicles that have been specifically designed by the company for E100 fuel. The new rules have cleared the way for testing such cars and obtaining permission to run them.

In this matter, the Supreme Court is also hearing a petition by an oil marketing company. The company claims that the Karnataka High Court's order will destabilize the national policy of blending 20% ethanol in petrol. Earlier on 30 June, the Supreme Court had ordered to maintain that directive of the Karnataka High Court, in which it was asked to increase ethanol allocation for ESY 2025-26.

The High Court had directed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited to consider a representation and take a decision. This representation was given by an ethanol producer, who had demanded an increase in ethanol allocation for ESY 2025-26. The High Court noted that dedicated ethanol plants have been set up under the government's policy and these plants are bound to supply ethanol only to oil marketing companies under the contract. The court also said that such plants cannot be denied the benefit of priority allocation decided in the long-term offtake agreement.